Now, researchers say, these psychotic episodes constitute a person's own medical condition and may be distinct from altitude sickness. "Mountains are maddeningly beautiful, but we did not expect that they can drive us to madness," said study co-author Dr. Hermann Brugger, head of the Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine at Eurac Research in Bolzano, Italy, told Live Science. Future research on this disorder could shed lights on other episodes of temporary psychosis, researchers say. read more